Many vehicles include a door handle device mounted on a side of a vehicle door facing a passenger compartment, one example of which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. HEI-8-184222 (hereinafter referred to as “the relevant prior patent literature”).
The door handle device disclosed in the relevant prior patent literature comprises: a base member as a body mounted on the door; a door lock knob pivotably mounted on the base member for switching between locked and unlocked states of the door; and an operation handle mounted beneath the door lock knob and operable by a user to perform a door opening/closing operation.
The vehicle door handle devices proposed in recent years are constructed in such a manner that, as a user or vehicle occupant pivots the operation handle in a door opening direction with the door lock knob kept in a door locking position, the door lock knob is pivoted to a door unlocking position. Further, as the vehicle occupant gets out of the vehicle with a key held by the vehicle occupant and reaches a predetermined distance away from the vehicle, the door lock knob can be automatically pivoted to the door locking position. It is desirable if sound generated by the pivoting movement of the door lock knob can be suppressed, because such suppression of the sound can significantly enhance a high-class feeling of the vehicle.